Nebraska
Nebraska in 2026 enacted first-in-the-nation data-center guardrails (LB 1010 requiring community benefit agreements, decommissioning plans, disclosures and full cost recovery) plus LB 1261 on eminent domain, while local fights escalated — a Gage County 18-month moratorium recommendation tied to a rumored Google project (Bold Nebraska, Nebraska Public Media).
ILens Signals
Civic/Governance Barriers activates on moratorium-class action (C1), meaningful 2026 race (C3) — governance instruments on the electoral, legislative, and regulatory surface (protocol §10; Overview Civic breakout). Capital Flows / Insurability is a dominant stressor here: LB 1010's full-cost-recovery, decommissioning-plan and CBA mandates directly address stranded-asset risk and cost-shift — a structurally strong ratepayer-protection regime — while OPPD flagged residential increases of 8.4% (2025) and 6% (2026) as the affordability backdrop (Bold Nebraska, June OPPD board). Energy/Power (public-power grid interconnection, 600 MW loads) and Water/Geology (Lincoln County groundwater concerns) are also central (KFXL).
IIKey 2026 Races
2026 Governor: data centers are a live campaign issue. Incumbent Jim Pillen signed a July 20, 2026 executive order ending ImagiNE Nebraska Act tax incentives for new data centers and creating a DWEE task force, after ≥12 counties adopted or advanced local moratoria; Democratic nominee Lynne Walz has pressed Pillen’s record on LB 1261 / LB 663 and incentive posture (Nebraska Public Media, Nebraska Examiner, Governor Pillen EO release).
IIIMoratorium · Ban Status
No statewide siting moratorium (Pillen explicitly distinguishes his July 20, 2026 executive order from a construction halt), but consequential pause-class action is statewide and local. Executive order: new data-center projects barred from ImagiNE Nebraska Act tax incentives; DED/Revenue/DWEE coordination required; DWEE data-center task force on land/water/power (Governor Pillen EO release, Nebraska Examiner). Local: at least a dozen counties have approved or advanced data-center moratoria; Gage County Planning & Zoning unanimously recommended an 18-month conditional/special-use permit pause (board of supervisors still to act) amid rumored large-load interest (Nebraska Public Media, Courier Nebraska / Gage, Southeast NCN). Lincoln County commissioners voted down a proposed moratorium in June, citing new state statutes (KFXL).
IVRatepayer · Cost-Shift Legislation
Yes — enacted. LB 1010, the Large Load Customer Regulation Act (signed April 14, 2026), requires large-load/data-center customers to pay the full cost of electric service with no cost passed to other retail customers, and — per Bold Nebraska — makes Nebraska the first state to require both a decommissioning plan and a Community Benefits Agreement, along with water/electricity-use disclosures (guardrails drawn from the LB 1111 bill by Sens. McKinney, Spivey and Machaela Cavanaugh); LB 1010 passed 49-0 (Bold Nebraska, ION Analytics). LB 1261 (signed April 14, 2026) limits public utilities from seizing privately owned generation via eminent domain (ION Analytics). OPPD's board on June 18, 2026 noted LB 1010 authorizes separate large-load rates requiring full-cost recovery (June OPPD board meeting). MultiState notes Nebraska's approach simply authorizes public power suppliers to negotiate rates (MultiState). Separately, Gov. Pillen’s July 20, 2026 executive order bars new data-center applications from ImagiNE Nebraska Act tax credits (Governor Pillen EO release).
VBallot Measures
None identified. No Nov. 2026 Nebraska data-center ballot measure was identified.
VITop Contested Sites
Google 'Papillion' data center (Sarpy County): ~600 MW of new demand; NE residential power up ~11.9% year-over-year (DataCentersExposed). A rumored Google project in southeast Nebraska (~3x Lincoln's load) drove the Gage County moratorium (Cliff).
VIITalent · Workforce
Not a leading Nebraska stressor; debate centered on ratepayer cost, decommissioning and groundwater rather than labor organizing or jobs-delivered disputes.
VIIIData Center Cluster Size
Growing, anchored by Google's Sarpy County (Papillion) campus with prospective large loads in southeast Nebraska (Gage County) (DataCentersExposed, Cliff).
IXKey Quote
"We are pleased to see that the Legislature passed LB 1010 on a vote of 49 to zero to establish important guardrails on data centers, including requiring data centers to pay the full cost of electricity and ensuring that no costs are passed on to other retail customers." — Bold Nebraska (Bold Nebraska).